Commander Alpha

Chapter 32

Percy's POV

I moved my head towards Annabeth's, honestly not expecting anything to happen. When she sat up straight into my nose, I was pretty surprised. I jumped back, holding my face.
"Ow." I complained. She looked around wildly.

"What happened? Are we winning? Why do you all look so sad?" She demanded.

"Annabeth," I said gently. "The war is over. We were both in week-long comas." Annabeth thought for a minute.

"I remember that Gaea threw me, and that's why I was out. What happened to you?"

"Later?" Annabeth's expression told me that it would not, as a matter of a fact, be happening later, but rather right then. I told her the story of how I ended up in my coma. When I finished, she groaned.

"Those idiots. Were there casualties?"

"Six." Silena responded. Annabeth could tell that she had taken on a sensitive subject.

"Who?"

"Eliece, Joey, Jordan, Dan, Thomas, and... Emma." Luke answered. Annabeth fingered her locket.

"Emma, from your..." Annabeth didn't finish the question, but we all nodded except for Bianca, who had a new round of tears coming on. "Oh." She said in a small voice.

"Emma said to suck it up, buttercups." Nico relayed. "Also, she finished the tin, wow, how'd she eat those so fast? Anyway, she says your mom's cookies were amazing."

"My mom's... My mom!" I jumped up. "I need to see her!" I pressed the button on my wrist. A minute later, an exhausted-looking Chaos appeared.

"Yeah?" I explained the whole the whole Brendan-making-my-mom-forget-about-me situation to him.

"Do you have anything that would help?"

"One sec." Chaos teleported away in a virtex of colors. In a moment, he reappeared with a small vial. "Here you go."

"Hey, Chaos." He looked at me. "Thank you." Chaos smiled, and left. I glanced at Annabeth.

"Will you-"

"If you think that there's any chance I won't come with you, you're a bigger Seaweed Brain then you look." Annabeth, swung her legs over the edge of her bed, then closed her eyes.

"Dizzy?" I asked, helping her up.

"It's nothing a piece of ambrosia won't fix." I helped her over to where the Apollo campers kept their ambrosia, and Annabeth ate a square. "Mmm, much better."

"Should we take Blackjack?" I asked, and Annabeth nodded. I turned to my Warriors. "Alright, see you guys later." Annabeth and I began to leave the infirmary.

"Bring back some blue cookies!" Luke shouted after us.

• • •

Twenty minutes later, I was nervously standing before my mom's door. My hands were shaking and my heart was beating at an unhealthy rate. I was the most scared I'd ever felt, and that was saying a lot, considering my many misadventures.

"This is a stupid idea." I whispered feverently to Annabeth. "How are we event going to get her to drink the potion?"

"Leave that to me." She whispered back. Before I could stop her, Annabeth raised her fist to the door and knocked thrice. I heard some muffled footsteps and laughter, then the door opened. Standing before me was the person I loved most in the world, Sally Jackson. She had flour smeared across her cheek and her favorite cooking apron tied around her neck. She wiped off the flour with the back of her left hand and I noticed something. She had a ring around her fourth finger. My mom had gotten married!
Sally smiled warmly at Annabeth, but her expression faltered at me. I knew why, as I had put my cloak on and looked rather intimidating. Sally seemed to brush my odd appearance off, and turned to Annabeth. Tears prickled in my eyes, and I felt one roll down my cheek. I was thankful my hood was up.

"What are you doing here?" My mom asked.

"It's important." Annabeth said. Sally seemed to pick up on the urgency of the situation, and ushered us inside. Paul stood up from where he was seated on the couch. I spotted him sporting a ring around his finger as well. I was thankful that my mom ended up with Paul, as I really liked the guy.

"Oh, guests!" He said. "I'll get drinks."

"Let me help." Annabeth offered, turning to me and winking. I realized her plan, and for the millionth time wondered how I ended up with such an amazing girlfriend. When Paul and Annabeth left, only my mom and I remained in the living room. We stood awkwardly.

"So," She started. "Do you want to take the hood off?"

"No, I'm good, thank you." At the sound of my no-longer disguised voice, something flicked across my mom's face, but it disappeared just as suddenly as it started. Sally led me to the couch, and we sat down.

"Are you from around here?"

"Yeah, really close actually." I internally laughed at just how close I was from. Sally opened her mouth and was about to say something when Annabeth and Paul emerged from the kitchen, each carrying two glasses. Annabeth handed one to Sally and took the other for herself, while Paul handed one of his to me.
Sally thanked Annabeth and took a long sip of her drink as Paul did the same. I watched them, anxiety filling me. Both of their faces blanked, going slack. They stayed like that for an agonizing thirty seconds.

"My Percy." My mom whispered. She looked at me, her eyes filling with tears. "Percy?" I glanced at Annabeth who gave the 'go ahead' symbol.

"Mom." My voice cracked as I flipped my hood down. I launched myself at her, and we hugged, both crying. A moment later, Paul joined, and the Jackson family was finally whole again.